- In the view of David Aldridge of The Athletic, the time is right for the Wizards to trade Bradley Beal and go all-in on a rebuild. While a Beal-less Wizards squad would be terrible in the short term, it’s the franchise’s best route to contention in the long term, Aldridge argues.
After the Wizards fired Ernie Grunfeld with eight days left in the regular season, updates on their search for a new head of basketball operations were few and far between for the next several weeks. However, that changed this week.
According to various reports, three candidates to replace Grunfeld were in Washington to interview with the Wizards on Tuesday. According to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (via Twitter), those candidates apparently met with the team one after another. They are as follows:
- Danny Ferry: Formerly the GM of the Cavaliers and the Hawks, Ferry saw his time in Atlanta come to an end after he read an offensive comment from a scouting report on Luol Deng out loud during a conference call. Ferry is a Maryland native, and his father Bob Ferry was the Washington Bullets’ GM for much of the 1970s and ’80s. Most recently, Danny served as the Pelicans’ interim GM following Dell Demps‘ ouster.
- Gersson Rosas: A longtime Rockets executive, Rosas currently serves as the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations. He has drawn interest from multiple teams with front office openings this spring, including the Pelicans and Timberwolves — he remains in the running for the Minnesota job.
- Troy Weaver: The VP of basketball operations for the Thunder, Weaver was linked to the Pistons’ head of basketball operations position in 2018, and to Kings and Hawks jobs in 2017. Interestingly, Weaver was mentioned as a potential candidate to replace Grunfeld way back in 2016.
Current Wizards interim general manager Tommy Sheppard is also a contender to claim the permanent job, and according to both Buckner and Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington, Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly is still very much on the Wizards’ radar.
Named a top candidate to run the Wizards’ front office in the wake of Grunfeld’s departure, Connelly was raised in Baltimore, Maryland and previously worked for the club. Sources tell Standig that personal considerations make the idea of returning to D.C. attractive for Connelly, with one source describing the position as Connelly’s “dream job.” However, given Denver’s ongoing success, it’s not clear if he’d want to leave the Nuggets at this time.
[RELATED: 2019 NBA Front Office Shakeup Tracker]
Finally, Standig provides one more interesting tidbit, citing sources who say that Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri is “intrigued by the idea of moving to Washington.” Ujiri’s wife is from the D.C. area and the city would provide him with a larger platform for his “Basketball Without Borders” program, Standig notes.
Still, a league source tells NBC Sports Washington that Toronto is unlikely to grant rival teams permission to interview Ujiri.
The Wizards are conducting several interviews for their head of basketball operations opening this week. Former Hawks GM Danny Ferry met with the team on Tuesday and current Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas is also in town for his meeting, as we relayed earlier today.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) reports that Thunder VP of basketball operations Troy Weaver was in D.C. as well to interview for the position. Interim GM Tommy Sheppard is also under consideration.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Marc Stein of the New York Times believes Klay Thompson is “100 percent staying put with the Warriors and will not consider external suitors,” as he writes in his latest newsletter. Thompson will be a free agent at the end of the season.
- Chandler Parsons had some encouraging stretches for the Grizzlies and he hopes to build on that progress, as David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal passes along. “I’m going to continue to do all the right things this summer and put myself in the best situation to play a lot of games next year,” Parsons said. “Where that will be, I don’t know. You’ve got to ask the guys upstairs. But I’m fully committed to the team and coming back, if that’s what it’s going to be.”
- Parsons has one year left on his four-year, $94MM deal and Cobb (same piece) wonders if the team will be able to trade the forward. The scribe believes the Grizzlies would have to attach an asset to Parsons in order to extract any value from a trade despite Parsons showing progress this season.
Former Pelicans interim GM Danny Ferry and current Rockets executive vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas will be the first candidate to meet with the Wizards about the team’s top front office job. According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, Rosas is currently in Washington to interview with the club, while Candace Buckner of The Washington Post tweets that Ferry met with the Wizards today.
Rosas has been a popular target in recent years for teams with openings at the top of their basketball operations departments, having already been linked to the Pelicans’ and Timberwolves’ jobs this spring. New Orleans went with David Griffin, but a source tells Katz that Rosas is still very much in the mix for Minnesota’s president of basketball operations position.
A longtime member of one of the NBA’s most analytically driven front offices, Rosas could be a good fit for the Wizards. As Katz points out, owner Ted Leonsis has indicated that he’d prefer Ernie Grunfeld‘s replacement to place an emphasis on data and analytics.
As for Ferry, he has previous experience running a front office in Cleveland and Atlanta, and re-assumed that role in New Orleans after Dell Demps‘ ouster during the 2018/19 season.
According to Katz, Mike Forde, an outside consultant, is helping the Wizards with their search after previously assisting the Pelicans. Rosas and Perry were both part of the Pelicans’ process, and other executives that showed up on New Orleans’ list – such as Nets assistant GM Trajan Langdon and Warriors assistant GM Larry Harris – could also be of interest to the Wizards.
Projected by most fans and experts to be a playoff team in 2018/19, the Wizards dropped 11 of their first 13 games and never recovered. Things went from bad to worse when John Wall suffered a season-ending heel injury, then later ruptured his Achilles tendon, putting his 2019/20 season in jeopardy — just as his super-max contract is set to begin. Ernie Grunfeld‘s replacement in the Wizards’ basketball operations department will inherit a challenging situation.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Wizards financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- John Wall ($38,150,000) 1
- Bradley Beal ($27,093,018)
- Ian Mahinmi ($15,450,051)
- Dwight Howard ($5,603,850): Exercised player option
- Troy Brown ($3,219,480)
- Total: $89,516,399
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Jabari Parker ($20,000,000)
- Total: $20,000,000
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Jordan McRae ($1,645,357)
- Tarik Phillip ($1,416,852)
- Total: $3,062,209
Restricted Free Agents
- Sam Dekker ($3,916,575 qualifying offer / $8,280,285 cap hold): Bird rights
- Bobby Portis ($3,611,813 qualifying offer / $7,483,038 cap hold): Bird rights
- Tomas Satoransky ($3,911,484 qualifying offer / $5,945,455 cap hold): Bird rights
- Thomas Bryant ($3,021,354 qualifying offer / $3,021,354 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Chasson Randle ($1,818,486 qualifying offer / $1,818,486 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $9,429,180
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Trevor Ariza ($18,000,000): Non-Bird rights
- No. 9 overall pick ($4,463,400)
- Jeff Green ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Ty Lawson ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights 2
- Ramon Sessions ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights 2
- Devin Robinson ($1,443,842): Early Bird rights
- Total: $26,868,528
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $0
- Even if they’re only accounting for their five players on guaranteed salaries, cap holds for Satoransky and their first-round pick, and their mid-level exception, the Wizards will be an over-the-cap team. If they want to bring back any other free agents, such as Portis, Bryant, Ariza, or Green, they’ll go further over the cap. Barring major cost-cutting moves, there’s no path to cap room, but it’s reasonable to expect them to stay out of the tax.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $957,609 (expires 6/26/19)
- Trade exception: $694,405 (expires 10/15/19)
- Trade exception: $2,955,654 (expires 12/9/19)
- Trade exception: $3,208,630 (expires 12/17/19)
- Trade exception: $6,011,913 (expires 2/6/20)
- Trade exception: $8,600,000 (expires 2/7/20)
- Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 3
- Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 3
Footnotes
- This is a projected value.
- Lawson’s and Sessions’ cap holds remain on the Wizards’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- These are projected values. The Wizards will not be able to use these exceptions if their team salary exceeds the tax apron. In that scenario, they’d instead receive the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth a projected $5,711,000.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Having created a space to track the NBA’s head coaching changes this spring, it only makes sense that we should do the same for the teams shaking up their front offices.
Of course, the front office structure for an NBA franchise generally isn’t as cut-and-dried as a coaching staff. All 30 teams will enter the 2019/20 season employing a head coach and a staff of assistant coaches. But not every team will have an executive with the title of “president of basketball operations” or “executive VP of basketball operations” on its payroll. And while some general managers around the league have decision-making power within their organizations, that certainly doesn’t apply to all of them.
Nonetheless, we’ll do our best to track this spring’s front office changes in the space below, monitoring which executives have decision-making power in each new management group. Some of these searches could extend well into the spring, so be sure to check back each day for the latest updates.
Completed Searches:
Los Angeles Lakers
- Out: Magic Johnson (story)
- Hired: No one
- Following Johnson’s shocking resignation, there was plenty of speculation about which high-level rival executives the Lakers might target to replace him. The answer? Nobody. The Lakers appear content to have general manager Rob Pelinka – with the help of a Rambis or two – run the front office, at least for the 2019 offseason. A report confirmed that the team has no plans to hire a new president of basketball operations to replace Johnson.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Out: Chris Wallace (story)
- Promoted: Jason Wexler, team president (story); Zach Kleiman, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Tayshaun Prince, VP of basketball affairs (story)
- Hired: Rich Cho, vice president of basketball strategy (story); Glen Grunwald, senior advisor (story)
- The Grizzlies demoted general manager Chris Wallace after the season ended, re-assigning him to their scouting department, and promoted two non-basketball executive to top roles in the front office. By promoting Prince and hiring Cho and Grunwald, the club added a pair of more seasoned basketball executives to their management group, but it still sounds like Wexler will oversee the basketball operations department, with Kleiman taking the lead on day-to-day matters. More hires are expected, but those will likely fill supporting roles.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Out: Tom Thibodeau (story)
- Hired: Gersson Rosas, president of basketball operations (story); Gianluca Pascucci, assistant GM (story); Sachin Gupta, executive VP of basketball operations (story)
- Having dismissed Thibodeau in January, the Timberwolves finished the 2018/19 season with GM Scott Layden running the show. However, they announced at the end of the regular season that they’d begin searching for a new president of basketball operations to replace Thibodeau. After interviewing several candidates, they ultimately landed on Rosas, a longtime Daryl Morey lieutenant in Houston.
- Also considered: Chauncey Billups (story), Trajan Langdon (story), Calvin Booth (story), Michael Winger (story)
New Orleans Pelicans
- Out: Dell Demps (story); Danny Ferry (story)
- Hired: David Griffin, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Trajan Langdon, general manager (story)
- The Pelicans fired Demps during the season and finished the season out with Ferry holding the interim GM role. Ferry was considered for the permanent job, but ultimately withdrew from consideration, citing concerns about moving his family to New Orleans full-time. Shortly thereafter, the Pelicans officially hired Griffin to run their basketball operations department. They later hired Langdon, who had interviewed for the top job, as their GM under Griffin.
- Also considered: Larry Harris (story), Gersson Rosas (story), Tommy Sheppard (story), Danny Ferry (story)
Phoenix Suns
- Out: Ryan McDonough (story)
- Promoted: James Jones, permanent GM (story)
- Hired: Jeff Bower, senior VP of basketball operations (story)
- Considering McDonough was fired back in October, it may not be fair to consider this an offseason change. But when the regular season ended, it wasn’t clear who would be running the Suns’ front office going forward, after Jones and Trevor Bukstein served as interim co-GMs since McDonough’s ouster. Phoenix answered that question quickly, announcing Jones’ promotion to the permanent GM role. The team also compensated for Jones’ relative lack of management experience by pairing him with a veteran executive in Bower, who figures to play a key role in the front office.
Washington Wizards
- Out: Ernie Grunfeld (story)
- Promoted: Tommy Sheppard, general manager (story)
- Hired: Sashi Brown, chief planning and operations officer (story)
- The Wizards fired Grunfeld about a week before their season ended and hired a search firm to identify candidates to replace him. Although they conducted a number of interviews for the job, they ultimately chose to elevate an internal candidate, promoting Sheppard to the permanent GM job after he ran it on an interim basis through the draft and free agency. Former NFL executive Brown also joined the front office in a top role.
- Also considered/rumored: Danny Ferry (story), Troy Weaver (story), Gersson Rosas (hired by Wolves), Tim Connelly (turned down offer), Masai Ujiri (story)
In an unsurprising move, Dwight Howard has picked up his 2019/20 player option, opting in for next season, reports ESPN’s Zach Lowe (via Twitter). The decision ensures that the Wizards center locks in his $5,603,850 salary for ’19/20.
Howard, 33, signed a two-year deal with the Wizards last summer after spending his previous three seasons with three different teams in Houston, Atlanta, and Charlotte. Having used the full taxpayer mid-level exception to sign him, Washington viewed Howard as its major offseason addition, but the big man’s stint in D.C. hasn’t gone as planned.
Sidelined by spinal surgery for most of the 2018/19 season, Howard also injured his hamstring during his rehab and was ultimately limited to just nine games. He was reasonably effective when he saw the court, averaging 12.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG in 25.6 minutes per contest as the Wizards’ starting center, but the question marks surrounding his health ensured that he wouldn’t land a contract on the open market this offseason worth more than his $5.6MM option.
With Howard back in the fold, the Wizards are now on the hook for approximately $89.5MM in guaranteed salaries for 2019/20, per Basketball Insiders. That doesn’t include potential contracts for free agents like Tomas Satoransky, Bobby Portis, Trevor Ariza, Thomas Bryant, or Jeff Green. It also doesn’t account for Jabari Parker‘s $20MM team option, though that’s a lock to be declined.
Portis and Bryant are both eligible for restricted free agency this summer, so it will be interesting to see how the Wizards handle their situations, given the team’s limited financial flexibility and the fact that veteran centers Howard and Ian Mahinmi are entering contract years.
Howard is the sixth player so far to exercise a 2019/20 player option or confirm that he plans to do so. The full list can be found right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
During each NBA league year, teams face limits on the amount of cash they can send out and receive in trades. Once they reach those limits, they’re no longer permitted to include cash in a deal until the following league year.
For the 2018/19 NBA season, the limit is $5,243,000. The limits on sending and receiving cash are separate and aren’t dependent on one another, so if a team has sent out $5,243,000 in trades and also received $5,243,000 in separate deals, they don’t have a clean slate — they’ve reached both limits for the season.
Thanks to reporting by cap experts like Bobby Marks, Eric Pincus, and Albert Nahmad, we’ve been able to keep tabs on the cash sent and received in trades by teams during the 2018/19 NBA league year, so we have a pretty clear idea of each club’s flexibility heading into the draft.
Being able to send or receive cash on draft day is particularly useful, since it can provide a simple means of acquiring – or moving – a second-round pick. A year ago, five of the trades agreed upon in June that featured 2018 draft picks included cash.
Of course, three of those five trades weren’t actually completed until July, which highlights a simple way to work around these restrictions. A team that can’t send or receive cash at this year’s draft could still technically agree to a deal involving cash, then officially finalize it sometime after July 1, when the cash limits reset for the 2019/20 league year.
Still, the 2018/19 restrictions are worth noting, since in some cases a player’s changing cap figure or contract status can make it impossible to wait until July to make a trade official.
With that in mind, here are some of the limitations facing teams until July 1:
Ineligible to receive cash:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Toronto Raptors
The Hornets reached their limit less than a week until the 2018/19 league year, having received $5MM from the Nets in their Dwight Howard trade and $243K from the Thunder in a deal involving Hamidou Diallo.
As for the Bulls, they reached their yearly limit in three separate transactions, acquiring approximately $2.63MM in a pair of swaps with the Rockets involving Michael Carter-Williams and Carmelo Anthony. Chicago then received another $2.61MM from the Thunder in a Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot salary dump.
Based on the reported figures for the Raptors ($5MM from the Spurs in the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster, plus $110K apiece from the Sixers and Nets in deadline deals), they could technically acquire another $23K. However, $110K is the minimum amount of cash a team can include in a trade this season, so Toronto can’t actually acquire any more.
Outside of these three teams, every NBA club is eligible to acquire at least $2MM before July. The Magic ($2,226,778), Sixers ($2,743,000), Mavericks ($3,148,049), and Hawks ($3,187,090) are most limited.
Ineligible to send cash:
- None
No NBA teams have reached their limits for sending out cash this season, though some are close.
The Nets ($243,000) and Spurs ($243,000) can barely trade any cash after sending out $5MM in deals last July. The Thunder ($411,294) and Rockets ($565,513) are also nearly tapped out, having made a handful of moves aimed at reducing – or in Houston’s case, eliminating – their luxury tax bills.
The Wizards ($2,365,456), Grizzlies ($2,660,069), and Celtics ($2,737,090) are also somewhat limited in their ability to trade cash, but no other teams have less than $3MM available.
On Tuesday, we asked which NBA head coaching vacancy looks like the most appealing, and so far, the Lakers are the pick. Despite all the drama in Los Angeles, the Lakers’ basketball situation still appears to be more favorable than that of the Grizzlies or Cavaliers.
The Lakers are also one of four teams with an opening at the top of their front office. In the wake of Magic Johnson‘s resignation, general manager Rob Pelinka is running the show in L.A., but there’s an expectation that the team will eventually hire someone to join him at the top of that hierarchy. It remains to be seen whether that means hiring a new president of basketball operations or perhaps promoting Pelinka and hiring someone underneath him.
Either way, a high-ranking job in the Lakers’ front office would be an intriguing one. Despite the team’s struggles in 2018/19, L.A. still has one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players (LeBron James) under contract for at least two more seasons and has the cap flexibility to pursue another star this summer. Some of the Lakers’ young players, such as Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, saw their value dip a little in recent months for health-related reasons, but there’s still a solid core of young players on the roster who could be dangled in trade talks or who could be contributors on the Lakers’ next playoff team.
The Grizzlies are another team in the market for a high-ranking basketball executive, though as in the case of the Lakers, it’s not clear exactly what that exec’s role would be. After demoting Chris Wallace, the Grizzlies announced that president of business operations Jason Wexler would oversee basketball operations too, with Zach Kleiman elevated to executive VP of basketball operations.
Neither Wexler nor Kleiman – who has a law background – is a true basketball executive, however. Presumably, the club will target a candidate with more of a background in player evaluation, scouting, and personnel decisions to join them in a key front office role. And that role could be an interesting one — Jaren Jackson looks like a keeper, and Mike Conley is a borderline All-Star who could be retained or traded. Owing a first-round pick to the Celtics is a nuisance, but once that pick is conveyed, Memphis would be in position to launch a full-fledged rebuild, allowing a new exec to help put his stamp on the team.
The Wizards‘ and Timberwolves‘ searches for new additions to their respective front offices appear more straightforward. Washington is seeking a replacement for Ernie Grunfeld, the team’s top decision-maker for years, and Minnesota publicly announced that it’s on the lookout for a new president of basketball operations.
In some ways, the Wizards’ and Timberwolves’ situations are similar. Each team has one overpriced long-term contract that may be a cap burden going forward – John Wall in Washington and Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota – but the presence of an All-Star (Karl-Anthony Towns and Bradley Beal) at least gives each franchise some hope.
Having players like Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and Josh Okogie locked up in Minnesota may appeal to front office candidates. Of course, in D.C., only Wall, Beal, and Troy Brown are under contract beyond the 2019/20 season, which might be intriguing to a candidate looking for a bit more of a clean slate. Plus, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis probably has a better league-wide reputation than Glen Taylor, who has been known to get involved in the Wolves’ basketball decisions.
What do you think? Assuming the roles are relatively similar, and taking into account rosters, assets, and ownership situations, which of these four front office positions looks the most appealing to you?
Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in!
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Bradley Beal making the league’s All-NBA team could change the course of the Wizards‘ franchise, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports writes. If Beal earns the nod, then he will be eligible for a super-max contract that starts at 35% of the salary cap.
[Related: How All-NBA Choices Impact Contract Situations]
There’s no guarantee that Washington offers that kind of deal to Beal if the organization gains the ability to do so. It’s also not certain that Beal would accept it. Hughes argues the Wizards will be left with no choice but to trade Beal if they decide against offering the super-max contract or Beal opts against accepting it.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Many within the NBA believe Mitchell Robinson possesses the highest ceiling of any current member of the Knicks, Marc Stein of The New York Times writes in his latest newsletter. Stein compares Robinson’s potential to Clint Capela‘s game, writing that Robinson could become better than the Rockets big man.
- Rookie Allonzo Trier didn’t hear his name called on draft night but Stein (in the same piece) believes that was a mistake. Trier played in 64 games for the Knicks this season.
- The Celtics brought in Cam Johnson (North Carolina), Quinndary Weatherspoon (Mississippi State) and Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech) for workouts, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Boston could end up with as many as four first-round picks in the upcoming draft.